Cook's Classic

The objective of this build was to keep the original look and memory of the truck with a slightly more modern interpretation. We started with this all original 1978 Scout II.

Don't get us wrong, when it comes to Scouts this was a very clean minimal rust truck. However, in order to build a truck that's done right and going to last you cant cut corners. Beginning the dismantle we found a fairly healthy compost pile in the inner fender.

Per usual, new floors, cab mounts and wedges. This truck also received new rear quarter panels and one of our passenger side HD surefit outer rocker panels.

The customer liked the color of the truck as it sat faded out. We were all afraid that the factory color repainted would be a little too.. smurffy. As with the theme of the truck, our modern interpretation resulted with this heritage blue.

A big portion of this truck was swapping in a 2012 GM 5.3l engine mated to a 6l80e transmission and NP241c transfer case using our conversion kit. He also received a roll bar with extended legs to allow for 3 point seat belts all around.

This decal was designed in house and cut locally. It is the original sticker package for this truck, except we had the thicker edge lines slimmed down ever so slightly for a less intrusive aesthetic and again more modern appearance. Putting on decals STRAIGHT takes time, believe us. We spent a good portion of the night adjusting this one to perfection. When we took this to the Rocky Mountain IH Rendevous Scout Show and saw some of the wavy and drifting replacement decals on a few other trucks we felt their pain.

From left to right; GM 5.3l, AMC straight six, and IH 345. Average mpg on the way to Colorado; 20, 14, and 9 respectively. In the travelers defense it had excessive roof cargo...

We finished this truck and then two days later drove it to colorado for the IH rendezvous and to delivery to the customer. It was sort of a make or break first big test drive. The only issue we had on this truck was a flat tire.